The bombing of the US embassy in Kenya happened on 7 August 1998 at around 10.30 am at the Kenya’s capital Nairobi (Schaefer 2006). The suicide bombers arrived with a truck loaded with explosives, which exploded just outside the US Embassy building near the Ufundi house as Schaefer (2006). The immediate suspect was the Al-Qaida group led by their leader Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri (Schaefer 2006). The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), put the two on the least of the most wanted fugitives and their hunt began (Schaefer 2006). The bombings were possibly a revenge mission for the torture of 4 Egyptian Islamic Jihads by the Americans arrested two months before the attacks. According to Bin Laden, the targeting of the Nairobi embassy was because of various claims that the Americans were planning to partition Sudan and the invasion of Somalia Schaefer (2006). Bin Laden claimed that all the plans took place in the US embassy in Nairobi including the Rwanda genocide as Schaefer (2006) asserts. One of the bombers bought a villa in Nairobi to enable the assembling of the bomb in the garage in May 1998 (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004). According to reports, Sheik Ahmed bought a truck in Nairobi to carry the bomb, which weighed about 900kg. The bomb was in 400 to 500 cylinders equal to drinks cans containing Ammonium Nitrate, Aluminum powder, and a detonating cord (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004).

At about 10.30 am the truck carrying the explosives arrived at the Kenyan embassy and detonated immediately killing about 213 people and injuring over 4000 people according to (Schaefer 2006) . According to the seismological analysis, the bombs had energy of 3-17 tons of high explosive materials (Koper, Wallace & Hollnack 1999. According to (Koper, Wallace, and Hollnack (1999), the truck carrying the explosives hadbuilding and completely collapsing the Ufundi building (Schaefer 2006). Majority of the victims, who died were in the Ufundi building that housed a secretarial college. A commuter bus at the Haile Selassie burnt down due to the heat from the blast. Many windows in a radius of about 1 kilometer shattered due to the blast causing eye injuries to the occupants of the houses, who went to peep through after the first blast (Schaefer 2006). The Liberation Army for Holly Sites, a terror group claimed the responsibility for the bombing though the investigators had a belief that the actual perpetrators were the Egyptian Islamic Jihads (Schaefer 2006).

Prior to the attack

The US was monitoring the al-Qaeda cell in Kenya by wire (Schaefer 2006). Mercy International was a charity organization, but the US intelligence believed that the Kenyan cell used it during their evil plans (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004). The intelligence stopped the monitoring on October 1997 but resumed in May 1998, as the New York Times reported. The planning of the attack, according to the government was during this time, and the embassy attacks succeeded despite the monitoring of the cell (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004). Four days before the bombing, a security guard claimed that he saw some three people taking films of the US embassy in Nairobi. The suspects Mohamed al-Owhali, Saddiq, and Nacha confessed to having surveyed the embassy that day as asserted by Njenga, Nyamai and Kigamwa (2004). Mohamed al-Owhali, one of the bombers was to die in the attack but managed to escape when the bomb exploded. The police arrested him on 12 August 1998, when trying to escape out of Kenya (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004).

According to the Israeli secret service, some threats received some weeks earlier on the bombing of the embassy were unreliable, and there was no need to worry. The security and the intelligent authorities therefore did not follow up on the matter (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004). The Israel group was also in the front part during the rescue mission, and according to some claims, they did not allow the American team of forensic specialists to assist in the rescue mission.

The attack and rescue

(Schaefer 2006). The two blasts came from a parking lot behind the embassy as the police reported. The flying pieces of glass caused many injuries on many people, who were passing. People flooded the city hospitals for treatment and first aid. The rescue team had a hard time retrieving people trapped underneath the rubble, especially at night since there was no good lighting (Schaefer 2006). By the use of floodlights and backhoes, the rescuers struggled to save as many people as possible. There was a warning by the Egyptian Jihad group of the US embassy’s attack prior to the attack to revenge the Washington role in the extradition of three terrorist suspects from Albania to Cairo (Schaefer 2006). The US believed that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks, which injured many including the US ambassador, Prudence Bushnell. According to other witnesses, they saw smoke rising up followed by pieces of glass falling everywhere and causing injuries to the passersby. The blast brought down the ufundi building trapping several people inside but only shattered the glass windows of the embassy (Schaefer 2006).

The blast destroyed the vehicles at the venue and killed about 15 pedestrians, who were in the nearby streets. Occupants of the other offices near the embassy sustained glass-cuts as they peeped through their office windows after the first blast. Schaefer (2006) asserts that there were people trapped in the elevators in the cooperative house, according to an eyewitness Chianda. According to another eyewitness, everything was flying all over the place and computers blowing up, and blood was all over the place (Schaefer 2006). The building shook, and people fell on the floor amid terrible screams. The embassy did not collapse because of its design but its windows shattered injuring the occupants. The hospitals in the city were flooded with patients from the blast scene some who needed urgent surgery and blood transfusion. The hospital authorities appealed for blood donations to assist the survivors. The morgues were flooded with bodies from the blast scene and many relatives combed outside trying to trace their relatives according to Njenga, Nyamai and Kigamwa (2004). The US dispatched some military cargo planes from Germany carrying medicines and hospital equipment, such as the mobile operating theaters (Museve 2010). The US also disbursed the FBI team to Kenya to help in the investigations and help to arrest the bombers as asserted by Njenga, Nyamai and Kigamwa (2004). There were many trapped underneath the rubble mou (Njenga, Nyamai & Kigamwa 2004).

After the attack

A few days after the blast, the authorities arrested two of the suspect although the leader bin-Laden and the other key suspects were at large (Thielman 2004). The president of the US, Clinton, (Thielman 2004). The operation known as Operation Infinite Reach caused a lot of destruction in the countries, although investigations showed that the company did not manufacture any explosives. The bombing made the US include Kenya to its Antiterrorism Assistance Program (ATA) according to Thielman (2004). The bombing investigations led the US to Osama bin Laden, who was the mastermind of the attack, and a courtroom testimony said that bin Laden established an Al-Qaeda cell in Kenya in 1993 (Thielman 2004). The cell was to assist in planning for the attacks in East African US embassies. The US strengthened its relationship with Kenya and formed various task forces to help deal with terrorism activities and arrest the suspects (Thielman 2004).

CASE STUDY: THE WESTGATE SHOPPING MALL ATTACK

On 21^st September 2013, shoppers in the Capital of Kenya Nairobi were busy in their daily activities. All was well untill gunmen in masks attacked shoppers at Westgate shopping mall killing 67 people (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013). Several people including Americans suffered injuries in the attack that was the most deadly to happen in the country since the US Embassy bombing in 1998 (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013). The attack was two years since the Kenya Defense Forces KDF set their boots in Somalia to fight a terror group, Al-Shabaab. The group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack as a revenge for the presence of the Kenyan troops in their country as KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre (2013) asserts (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). The security authorities arrested several people after the incidence on 4^th November 2013, out of which four Somali nationals charged with hosting gunmen pleaded not guilty to the charges.

(KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). The Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko also claimed that he gave a warning to the security services of an intended attack three months before the incidence (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014).

as noted by Mbiyu (2014). There were about 80 people trapped in the building according to a report, but the police who arrived , claimed that they escorted some people to a safe place (Mbiyu 2014).

According to statements by the eyewitnesses, in the mall, the shooting began at the front of the mall, and some KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014).

(KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). Some ran to the parking area on the rooftop as more grenades exploded, and people panicked. The Kenya Army arrived and used tear gas on the attackers, who were inside the cinema hall as vehicles full of bullet holes littered the front part of the mall.

Rescue effort

According to Goran Tomasevic, a Reuter’s chief photographer for East Africa, several people including women and children emerged from the mall with gunshot wounds and bleeding profusely (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). On 23^rd (Mbiyu 2014). The president also assured Kenyans that the security team was doing all the best to rescue the hostages from the building. After 24 hours since the begging of the shooting, there were gunshots still emanating from the building.

The message from the Military spoke person Colonel Cyrus Oguma said that most of the hostages were now out, although they were suffering from dehydration and shock (Mbiyu 2014)we are doing anything reasonably possible, cautiously though, to bring this process to an end” (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). According to L as (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014) asserted. .

The Kenyan Red Cross reports indicated that about 63 people were missing as at 24^th September 2013, many people volunteered to donate blood and raised donations amounting to US$650,000 KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). There were allegations of looting by the Kenyan soldiers in the shops leading to the arrest of two soldiers. Videos recorded some of the soldiers carrying beer bottles and bags full of stolen goods from the supermarket.

Victims of the attack

Reports showed that about 67 people died in the attack with the majority being Kenyans at 48 deaths. The others were United Kingdom 4 people, India 3, Canada 2, France 2, British-Australian 1, China 1, Ghana 1, Netherlands 1, Peru 1, S (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). The information about the number of casualties of the attack remained unclear and the hostages the security officers claimed were in the building were not there. One of the Hospitals, treating the casualties complained of the overwhelming number of the injured and transferred some to another hospital (Mbiyu 2014). In total, the death toll was at 67 people and about 17 more sustained serious injuries. Mbiyu (2014) noted that those who suffered injuries were between 2 to 78 years with some of the notable victims being the Kenyan president’s nephew, Mbugua, and his Fiancee. The others were Kenyan journalist Adtia-Sood, Ghanaian Poet Kofi Awoonor, a Canadian Diplomat Annemarie Desloges as Mbiyu (2014) observes.

Investigation

After the attack, the government tightened security, especially in all public places as investigations started. British police officers assisted the Kenyan Counter-terrorism officials to carry out the investigation, in which the group arrested ten suspects (Mbiyu 2014). The investigation involved a forensic analysis to unravel the nationalities of the attackers. According to (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014), one of the suspects was a British woman and two to three US Nationals, though there were no confirmations. According to the Kenyan Army Chief Julius Karangi, the terrorists came from different countries, but there were still unconfirmed reports (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013). According to reports by The StarThe Star about the impending attack. According to NIS, the police officers had knowledge about the attack too (KENYA: Deadly Attacks 2014). Other claims said that a pregnant woman received warnings not to visit the Westgate shopping mall from a NIS officer on that day. Another newspaper, The Observer, also had reports concerning the attack and claimed that the NIS was aware of the attack. Some NIS officers were allegedly at the Westgate some hours before the attack (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013). Other reports from the media said that some of the terrorists escaped and others died in the mall, but the government denied that any attacker escaped.

The perpetrators

According to eyewitnesses, the attackers spared the Muslims and asked people to give the name of the mother of Prophet Muhammad to determine whether they were true Muslims (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013). There were conflicting statements on the number of the attackers with some saying that they were ten while others claimed that they were 15. According to KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre (2013), the CCTV cameras showe (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013) (KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013)

A number of arrests on 4^th September by the Kenyan officers, saw Mohammed Ahmed, Liban Abdallah, Adnan Ibrahim, and Hussein Hassan, accused of offering support to the gunmen that showed that only four attackers carried out the attack, and all of them escaped alive. The reports by the Kenyan ad the US state Department revealed that the gunmen did not survive and discredited the NYPD report(KENYA: Nairobi Shopping Mall Massacre 2013).

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